The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-10-16
woMgN,s WORK AND WAGES.

takes an amiable interest in affairs with which
1t has nothing to do. The persons most con-
rerned-the working women themselves and
their employers are seldom heard from in re-
gard to the matter.
Out of all that is said an occasional word of
wisdom may be cleaned, but vast deal of
nonsense is uttered and many inconsequent
conclusions reached. A newspaper In Mil
waukee, for instance, and one, too, usually
distinguished for its good sense, lays down
the law that it is just and right that a man
should receive more pay than woman for
the same work, because men generally sup
port families while women do rot, or when
they do the families are smaller than the av-
erage family supported by man." This argu-
ment would be more impressive and convinc-
ing were it not for the fact that doing
equal work are paid equal wages without re-
gard to their condition in life, whether they
are married or single or whether they have
others dependent on them. Very seldom is
the slightest discrimination made between
male workers on this account, and when it is
attempted protest is swift to come, not only
from the unmarried laborer but from his fell
low-laborers who are heads of families. 1t is
felt to be unjust, and it is promptly urged
and insisted upon that the pay is to be regu-
lated by the service performed and not by
the personal needs of the worker.
One point on which the students of social
phenomena agree in accounting for the low
wages paid to women, is that women labor
nnder the disadvantages of traditional opin
ion which assigns them to an inferior position
in the worlds economy. Owing to this, it is
argued that men find it difficult to acknowl-
edge their work to be equal, Or doing SO, to
admit that they deserve a like compensation.
Internationally this feeling does exist. Many
even among those who pride themselves upon
their liberality of sentiment, unconscious
" affected by it, and prejudiced against the
practical operation of their beautiful theories
of the equality of the sexes. A glaring proof
lof the existence of this belief is seen in the
government service at Washington, where
hundreds of women, working side by side
with men or succeeding to desks formerly
occupied by men and doing the same work,
receive salaries only half as large. The gov
eminent departments being, it is commonly
supposed, under control of the most enlight-
ened men Of the country, what can be expect
ed Of private individuals whose self-interest
is in perpetuation os the prejudice2
There is, however feature of the matter
seldom touched on in dissertations on the sub
feet, which accounts in part for the disadvan-
tages under which women labor, and re-
moves a portion of the blame from the
Shoulders of man where it is usually placed.
1t is but just to say that women them
selves partially responsible for the expressions
to which they are subject. Whether it is an
Indication of inferiority, or the result of gen.
erations of masculine supremacy, it is true
that qualities inherent in the nature of women
impede their progress as wage earners. Most
women lack self-assertion, and are timid about
pushing their own claims to preferment
They are also submissive to the existing or
der of things-not to the extent of accepting
it as right but to a degree which makes it
difficult for reformers to rouse them to active
protest. Now it is the way of the business
world that the man who succeeds financially,
who gets the high salaries, whose services are
eagerly sought for, whose opinions carry
weight is self-conident self-assertive and
quick to demand his rights. The first two
traits lead the community in general, and
his employers in particular to accept him at
his own valuation; compliance with his claims
after that is matter of course. 1t is desirable
that merit. however modest, should be recog-
nized and duly appreciated; but, unfortunately
this is not apt to be the case. 1t is only in
Sunday school books and apocryphal tales re-
,ated for the encouragement of youth that the
rich merchant, of his own motion, rapidly adj
vances his worthy employees and takes the
most talented into partnership without solicit
tation. In real life the favored one insists
directly and indirectly that he is entitled to
the promotion, and creates the impression
that he is the one that renders the service by
accepting the advancement. Women are not
the only ones who suffer from lack of the quail
lily known as push" The world is full of
men who have plodded on, half recompensed,
through a lifetime of labor while early COM
panions with far less ability, have, by sheer
force of selfsufficiency and self-assertion,
gone to wealth and prosperity.
Women, however, are uniformly timid, and
Is class are under disadvantage in the
,truggle for livelihood. Whether it is bet
Ter that they should cultivate the aggressive
self-confdence and talent for holding their